Unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
A heart, such as a human heart, facilitates pumping of blood to and from various parts of a body. The heart commonly beats at a regular rate and regular rhythm. However, a symptom may occur, where the electrical control system of the heart may malfunction, which may cause the heart to beat irregularly or not at all. Additionally, the regular rhythm of the heart may be negatively affected, which may be generally referred to as an arrhythmia. Arrhythmia may be caused by many factors, but in general, arrhythmia may be caused by a malfunction in the electrical control system of the heart. Some types of arrhythmias may result in inadequate blood flow resulting in reduction or lack of the amount of blood pumped to the various parts of the body. For example, issues with the sinoatrial (SA) node may lead to arrhythmia of some kind. Some arrhythmias may lead to a condition known as sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). In an SCA condition, the heart may fail to pump blood effectively, and as a result, death may occur.
An example type of arrhythmia, which may be associated with SCA, may be a condition known as ventricular fibrillation (VF). VF may be a condition where a ventricle or ventricles, which make up the heart to facilitate the pumping of blood, may make uncoordinated movements instead of steady rhythmic movements. In the VF condition, the heart may not pump adequate amount of blood or may not pump blood at all, which may eventually lead to death. Another type of arrhythmia, which may be associated with SCA, may be a condition known as ventricular tachycardia (VT). An electronic device may also be utilized to help sense, monitor, or treat a medical condition such as cardiac VF by defibrillating the heart. An example of an electronic device may be a defibrillator device. A defibrillator device may be capable of providing an electrical signal, commonly in the form of an electric shock, to the heart in the VF condition. The defibrillator device may provide the electrical signal to a heart externally (i.e., through the surface of a body) via accessories commonly known as electrodes. Commonly in the form of a pad, as the name may imply, the electrode may facilitate transfer of the electrical signal from the defibrillator device to the heart through the surface of the body. Because of the nature of the function of the electrode, the electrode may be considered to be a consumable accessory (i.e., the electrode may have a limited number of uses, may have a shelf life, may have compatibility requirements with certain defibrillator devices, etc.), albeit one of an important accessory.